What electrical components did you use to complete your CNC setup?

[nearbeer]

Thanks for your time. I've been plugging along at getting material together for my JGRO router (with plans to upgrade to a Joe machine at a latter date) and have begun looking into electrical components. I've looked at various sites such cncrouterparts.com & dumpstercnc.com to find some package deals but I really don't know what I am looking for.

So, what did it take for you to complete your CNC router? Limits switches? Breakout boards? Etc, etc. I have no idea what I need except stepper motors and some type of controller. Beyond that, I am a clueless wonder.

Looking for my next cold one,

NearBeer

[HereinCS]

You need a break out board, drivers, limit switch, estop switch, a dc power supply, a computer with a parallel port. Easiest way is to buy a gecko g540 which have 4 drivers and a break out board packaged in a tidy aluminum case. You'd just add a power supply.

[MrWild]

What do you mean by components? Drives, motiors, and power supply, or the case, terminal blocks, E switches, etc? All of it? Keiing ROCKS. The 381inoz motors, 48v 7.3a power supply and a Gecko G540 is the best and Cadilac bang for the buck. You can find cheaper, but not easier or as good with things like auto power down, step morphing, and mid band resonance damping. Just a great set up. Others will work, but don't offer the complete set of extras (not many step morph, or are chopper design versus PWM, or have no mid band damping).

My set up is made from a utility box bought at Hosfelt Electronics http://www.hosfeltelectronics.com/ , the Gecko set up mentioned, E stop from a box of parts a friend had (watch Surplus Center sales), SCRs for the spindle and vacuum from he same friend, terminal blocks from Badger Electronics in Kenosha Wisconsin, and wire salvaged twenty years ago when my company miss-wired a new machine and ripped all the new wire out of it.

Little things like cable anchors for your power cord can e gotten at some home stores but for sure Mouser and Hosfelt. The same for a mains power switch. If you forget, all home improvement stores and auto stores have crimp conectors and pliers. Motor cable from eBay and Mouser. Shopping round can save money. Because I'm deaf, I have idiot lights to let me know things are running. Home improvement, Radio shack, Mouser, and Hosfelt.

[ger21]

I have a Xylotex and 24V power supply. That's it.

[CarveOne]

Solsylva 25"x37" machine -

Xylotex 3 axis controller, 24vdc PSU, three 425 oz-in steppers, 1/2-10 5 start lead screws, four DumpsterCNC anti-backlash nuts. No switches.

DIY 50"x136" machine -

Four Gecko G203V drives, C11G breakout board, Keling 72vdc 20 amp PSU, four Keling 495 oz-in steppers, racks from Enco and Moore Gear, three NEMA 23 R&P drives from cncrouterparts. No switches (yet).

CarveOne

[PropNut]

Originally Posted by MrWild Keiing ROCKS. The 381inoz motors, 48v 7.3a power supply and a Gecko G540

I agree. I purchased this package deal from kelinginc.net also, it was simple to setup and get running. I purchased some roller switches from McMaster for homing. I then realized that I still needed an E-stop button and a licence for Mach3. Keling let me purchase the licence for the package price even though I had already purchased the package (a couple of week earlier) along with an E-stop button. The customer service was excellent (some would argue but I have had good responces on my questions/queries).

I am using soft limits right now but plan on adding more switches one of these days.

If you get the 48v power supply you might want a 48v fan or two. I purchased two of them for 1.75 each (120mm) from All Electronics:
http://www.allelectronics.com/index...._query=48v+fan

Cheap PC was an Ebay all in one (Omnitech) Pentium4 2.6 for 79.00 (shipping was 25.00). These have the old printer port as none of my new computers do...nor did I want to waste a newer PC out in the shop. This one still surfs the web as well as the new ones though and runs V-Carve Pro just fine. Most of my Cad/Cam work is done in my home office though.

[nearbeer]

All the info that has been given is great! Many thanks to everyone who posted and I will be taking you up on getting a package and be "one & done" with it!

Still looking for my next cold one,

NearBeer

[cxixer]

I used xylotex for electronics in the first place, not much luck, and switched to probotics. Great service there.